The Next Generation
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: It's the year 2007, Duncan MacLeod and Methos have been missing for 9 years, the Immortals and Watchers are at war with each other. Joe Dawson an exWatcher, and three new Immortals continue the search for the two greatest Immortals.
1. Chapter 1

Highlander: The Next Generation

It was the year 2007, 12 years after the first battle between the Watchers and the Immortals. Nine years since the great Scottish warrior Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, and his friend, Methos, the world's oldest Immortal, who masqueraded as Adam Pierson—a Watcher, had vanished with no trace for any Watcher or Immortal to follow. In 1998, shortly after they had disappeared, a bitter feud grew between the Immortals, and their Watchers, who they trusted no further than they could throw.

Johnny Moran was no exception. He had been an Immortal since 1917, in that time he'd gone through many experiences pleasant and unpleasant alike. He'd lived through them, survived, and moved on. Trouble had often been a companion to him, and once again, he found himself in trouble, but this time it seemed worse than anything he'd experienced in the past. He had been to hell and back, he'd seen pain and suffering, watched strangers and loved ones alike die slow, painful, gruesome deaths, viewed tragedy both from afar and a close range. After it all, he saw nothing as capable of troubling him, until now.

He had made it a habit not to be on friendly terms with the Watchers since he found them to be worse enemies than any Immortals he had and would ever face. It wasn't as simple a thing as blackmail, or a death threat that would be shaken off. He threatened them with time bombs, he blew up their Headquarters and had killed 114 of his own Watchers over time, among countless others. Now all his ill minded games of Cat and Mouse with the Watchers had caught up with him. He was chained to a wall in a small room, somewhere on a higher floor in the new Watchers Headquarters. Standing opposite of him was Jack Shapiro, the same man from 1995 who had sought to kill Joe Dawson for violating the Watcher's oath: Observe and Record, but Never Interfere.

Johnny liked no Watcher in particular, but of all of the countless hundreds of thousands of them all, the man he hated with the greatest passion was Jack Shapiro, which made his capture all the more demeaning. Jack paced around the room, glancing at Johnny as he went back and forth. "Well, well, well Mr. Moran, let me be the first to congratulate you."

"For what?" Johnny asked, remaining calm in his restraints. He didn't move his eyes, his voice didn't crack, he didn't even show any signs of even attempting to break loose.

Jack stopped pacing and looked directly ahead at the Immortal. "For being the first Immortal in 12 years to die at the hands of a Watcher, that's 'for what'," Jack replied in an ever-so-cocky tone.

"Am I here for a reason?" Johnny's eyes moved to match Jack's, "Or am I just here so you can bore me to death?"

Jack started pacing again as he spoke, "Where shall we begin with you, the killing off of all 114 of your Watchers? The death threats, blackmail letters, arsonist torching, roadway killings…"

"And the bombings, don't forget the bombings," Johnny replied, showing no remorse for any of his past deeds.

Jack half-heartedly laughed as he continued his pacing, "You know, back when Duncan MacLeod was still alive, there were a few times where his friends thought he was losing his mind. Perhaps the same has happened to you in time. Perhaps to you, everything you've done just seems to be one big joke. Is that it?" he asked. "Well now the joke's on you, how about for a change, I threaten you?"

Johnny rested against the wall and let out a good hard laugh, "Nothing you could threaten me with would work on me."

"Is that a fact?" Jack asked.

"Is that a fact?" Johnny repeated in a mocking tone.

"For years you blackmailed us, the entire Watchers society, your kind is not even supposed to know we exist, and yet you seem to have taken great pleasure in tormenting and harassing our brothers and sisters. Then you went from just harassing them to killing them, a total of deaths at the hands of you add up to 1,256. All of them, our brothers and sisters, they're all dead thanks to you!" Jack told him.

Johnny let out a light snort, "All those sons of bitches were your brothers and sisters? I'd hate to know who your father fucked."

"Everything's still a joke to you, isn't it?" Jack asked, "I doubt you'd be laughing if I were to return the favor and threaten the lives of your family."

"Ha!" Johnny chuckled, "I have no family, Jack, I outlived all of them!" Johnny took great pleasure in losing himself in his laughter momentarily.

Jack was getting frustrated by his behavior, here he was getting nowhere fast with any of his threats. But he wasn't ready to give up yet, what this foolish Immortal didn't realize was that he had a trump card he was ready to play.

"Face it, Shapiro, you don't have anything to use against me," Johnny laughed, "I am the last of my family, the last of my generation, and quite frankly, the last of my lifetime's population. Everything that I have faced in the past has been left in the past, and there is nothing that you could do now that would make me feel any different about it."

"Oh really? Not even a visit from an old friend?" Jack asked in a very cunning manner.

The way Jack had said 'old friend' made Johnny's blood run cold. He could almost swear he knew what he was talking about, but even so, he told himself that it was impossible to even be true.

"I think it's time we take a look back at history, shall we?" Jack took a couple of files out of his jacket and started reading, "Jonathan Quintin Moran, born May 2nd, 1898, Chicago, Illinois. Making you around 19 when you died, correct?"

Johnny snorted, "Probably the earliest case of drunk driving," he said.

"And I understand that around that time you knew several people, including someone else who died in 1917."

Johnny's heart stopped and his entire body became like ice. Shapiro wasn't playing around with him anymore,

"I see that caught your attention," Jack said, "do you remember her name?"

Her, it was a her, he said 'her', that left no doubt in Johnny's mind, they were both thinking about the same person.

"Jennifer Callahan, born July 15th, 1900, The Bowery, New York. She moved to Chicago when she was 12…died July 21, 1917…attempted suicide…"

"She was pushed," Johnny corrected him.

"According to you, she was pushed," Jack said, "can you be sure of that? How do you know she didn't just want to kill herself?"

"Why should she?" Johnny asked, "she had plans."

"Perhaps she realized that those plans would've gotten her killed anyway," Jack said.

"I think she would've gone through with them anyway…see what happened."

"The fact of the matter is she didn't recover from the fall."

"But she returned," Johnny added.

"And how many heads did she take?" Jack asked.

Johnny knew the answer, but he didn't bother answering, he knew Shapiro was enjoying this so much, he'd go on.

"Two…not a very good number."

"For living as an Immortal for only three months with no teacher, I'd say it was damn great," Johnny replied.

"Odd thing to say about an enemy though, wouldn't you say?" Shapiro asked.

"Not really an enemy…we just never had much to agree on."

"Oh really? It would seem she had quite a violent streak whenever you were with her. She certainly never seemed very pleased to be around you."

"Nobody was, even my mother didn't want me around," Johnny told him, "I'm serious…every week when the garbage men came, she'd hold me up and say 'you forgot something'."

"Then if she were still alive, do you think you'd want to see her?" he asked.

"Where is this going?" Johnny asked, already he was getting bored by Jack's game.

"What would you say if I were to tell you that she's here?" Jack asked.

Johnny couldn't believe what he was hearing, Jennifer was dead, and had been for 90 years, after the fire her body was never recovered, and there was no way she could've survived it long enough to get away.

"I see you don't believe me."

"No shit, first you guys pushed her off the top floor to a 25-story building, now you're telling me she survived having the display window to a burning building fall on her? I find that hard to swallow."

Shapiro laughed humorlessly, "I assure you won't think that for long."

While Johnny tried to consider what he meant by that, Jack left the room for a few minutes, and when he returned, he wasn't alone. Two other Watchers seemed to have the job of pallbearers as they carried in what looked like some kind of fancy sci-fi casket and they laid it in the middle of the floor and left.

"What's that?" Johnny asked.

"I told you she was here…she's in there…" Jack told him, "has been for many years now."

Johnny was about to make a suggestion of where Jack could stick his head because he thought there was no way in hell that she could be in there. But then he got a better look past the glass on top, and he saw Jennifer's body, frozen solid, looking exactly as she did the last time he saw her back in 1917, her body frozen from aging by ice and Immortality alike, and it was then that it all came together to Johnny.

"So that's how she survived…you stole her body and put her on ice."

"Not a common thing 90 years ago…but today, technology has made it much more convenient with cryogenic caskets…"

Johnny couldn't believe what he was seeing, something like this, even to an Immortal it had to fall under the category of cruel and unusual. "What a way to go, 90 years frozen solid."

"Not entirely," Jack responded, "she's been the star of many an experiment over the years."

"What kind of experiments?"

"She'd been left out to thaw from time to time, once she resurrected, she was knocked unconscious."

"How humane," Johnny sneered with sarcasm.

"Once she was unconscious, it seemed there wasn't anything for her to do, but her subconscious mind was able to pick up very quickly…"

"Pick up what?" Jack wouldn't answer him, "Come on Shapiro, if you're gonna kill me, then at least do me the honors of answering my question."

"Repetitive messages…know anything about Brave New World?" Jack didn't give him time to respond. "And I happen to know that she'd be all too happy to follow the message right to the letter."

This was starting to make sense to Johnny. "And that message," Johnny said, "is to kill me."

"You catch on quick…whether or not she remembers you it makes no difference, when she resurrects again, she'll pay attention to one thing and one thing only…you…have…to…die…"

Johnny could see there was no way out of this one. "Don't I get some last words?"

"Sure…" Jack wasn't thrilled with it, but he figured in a few minutes he'd be rid of this guy forever, so it wouldn't matter, "what are they?"

Johnny moved his head back, gesturing for Jack to come closer, and he did.

"Yeah?"

Johnny looked down for a minute, as if he was trying to think of what to say, then he looked up and spit in Jack's eye.

"I'm going to enjoy seeing you die," Jack turned and headed back over to the casket.

"Oh really? Didn't you already go through this once before with Duncan MacLeod?" Johnny asked, "and if memory serves, he got away."

Jack turned around and laughed, "Duncan MacLeod is dead!"

"That's never been proven!" Johnny replied, "and if I ever find him…"

Jack continued laughing, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that where you're going…you won't be around for long."

Jack headed back over to the casket and it was then that Johnny realized that this was no ordinary cryogenic coffin, at the top there was a small valve and spout, Shapiro turned the valve and the cold air from the interior of the coffin came blowing out through the spout. With that, Shapiro was heading for the door.

"Where're you going?" Johnny asked.

"I just said I'm going to enjoy seeing you die," Jack told him, "I didn't say I was sticking around _here_ to see it." Johnny wished he wasn't chained up so he could rip that dumb grin off Shapiro's face. "So long, Moran."

"Up yours," Johnny called back.

The door shut behind Jack and bolted, the air continued blowing out the spout and Johnny could see the ice inside starting to melt around Jennifer's body. It wouldn't be long now, but was Jack right? Would that brainwashing of God only knew how many years actually have any effect on her? Could be, the Watchers were notorious for trying to do something right that would make Immortals suffer. Even if she was programmed to kill him, what would she use? The Watchers weren't likely to trust her with a sword, that was for sure. As the last of the cold air was released from the coffin, the ice melted and Jennifer resurrected with a muted gasp from the entrapment of the coffin. Johnny had to admit, he had missed seeing her, but seeing her like this wasn't a pleasant sight either.

Looking around, the girl seemed to recognize her surroundings and she brought up her balled fists and shattered the glass lid and crawled out. For a minute, Moran wasn't sure he had anything to worry about, she'd been kept dead or dormant by the Watchers, and had been 90 years, she probably wouldn't even remember him. She looked around the room with her eyes closed so tightly; they were only slits, getting adjusted to the light no doubt. Looking straight ahead, she saw him and her eyes opened more. Johnny was watching her in awe, could it be? Was it possible?

She opened her mouth to talk and immediately shut it again, then she opened it again and let out a low, "…Johnny…Mo-ran…"

She knew.

"Hello Jennifer," he said, "long time no see."

"…Yes…" she replied.

She turned back to the coffin and reached inside of it, Johnny couldn't tell what she was doing, but got the answer when she turned back around and was coming at him slowly with a broadsword in her hand.

So it would seem the Watchers were better prepared than Johnny had given them credit for, and now it seemed that their plan was going to work. She stopped a few inches away from him, she was looking him over, as if she wanted to make sure she'd never forgotten a single thing about him…but Johnny figured she was also trying to decide how to do this, what with having only killed 2 Immortals and having no teacher, it wasn't an easy task.

"Look, if you're going to kill me," Johnny said, "then can you do me a favor and make sure you get me right at the neck? I'd sure had to have to find out what it's like to die with half my neck still attached and part of my head mutilated."

"Shut up," Jennifer spat.

She stepped back again to make sure she had plenty of room to do this, Johnny knew she'd do it, so he had to think of a way to distract her, and quick.

"What was it like?" he asked.

Jennifer almost dropped her sword, "What?"

"When the window fell on you, what was that like?" he asked, "I always imagined it was painful."

"Well…" she held onto the hilt of the sword and gripped it tightly, "it was over pretty quick actually…I don't know that I actually felt anything, by the time I hit the pavement and the window broke, it felt like I was numb already."

"And the fire?" Johnny asked, "did you feel that?"

"Not really…I…I could smell my skin burning, but by that time I was so far gone, I don't know I really felt anything," she replied.

"Well I gotta tell you, you missed out on a lot these past 90 years."

"Like what?"

"Get this, Alphonse arranged the biggest racket to hit Chicago, Valentine's Day, 1929 at the S-M-C Garage…"

This got Jennifer's attention, "Who'd he kill?"

"Seven men including James Clark…his brother Bugs Moran was a rival in the bootlegging business and was supposed to be there as well, but he was late…I figure he was late for everything," Johnny explained.

"No kidding? Where's Alphonse now?"

"Dead, he died January 25th, 1947…by that time he was already fruitier than a bat, he got sent to Alcatraz and got stuck in the hole, and it broke him."

Johnny couldn't help but notice the look on Jennifer's face when she heard that, it was a look of shock, she kept opening and closing her mouth, trying to think of something to say but no sound came, and her eyes were wide and quickly building up tears.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer…I know how much you liked him," he told her.

"Who…who killed him?"

"Nobody, he died because he had syphilis…you mean he never told you he had it?"

"No."

"He probably didn't know himself…having syphilis helped his insanity to spread, people think…by the time he got out of prison in 1939, Jake Guzik who'd been running the business in his absence told reporters that Al was nuttier than a fruitcake."

"…Did he marry?" Jennifer asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yeah, once…Mae Coughlin, he stayed married to her until he died…and they had a son…"

Jennifer's eyes widened and she looked happy to hear that, "Did he take over?"

"No," Johnny replied, "Mae told him not to follow after his father because he broke her heart…I think it was reasonable."

Jennifer looked down and nodded, she looked back up at Johnny and asked him, "are you still…"

He knew what she was trying to ask, "No, now I'm…or I was…living in New York again…but now…" he looked around at the room, "Now I have no idea where the hell I even am."

Jennifer looked around and behind her at the room also, but what she was looking for she didn't know.

Then, Johnny got an idea, "if we get out, I'll take you to see where they buried him one of these days. They have a flat tombstone right against the ground and it's surrounded by shrubbery so nobody can find it and vandalize it…and people leave flowers and cigars and bottles of liquor and big silver coins…I think it's the way he would've wanted it…to this day, people still love him."

Jennifer looked back at him and was about to answer when the door opened and Jack Shapiro walked, "What's going on in here?"

Jennifer turned around again and both she and Johnny could tell Jack was fuming. "I gave you direct orders to kill him, now do it!"

Jennifer looked back at Johnny, then back at Shapiro.

"Have you forgotten what he's done to you? Kill him now!" Jack told her.

Jennifer gave no sign that she acknowledged what he said, she just gripped her sword and walked towards the victim. Only she wasn't walking towards Johnny, it was Shapiro.

"What are you doing!" he demanded to know, "Not me you fool, Moran…Callahan, you listen to me."

"No, you listen to me," she said as she had Jack pinned against the wall, "no thanks to you, I've missed out on 90 years, I've lost my family…everything I have…and I'm not going to lose the last connection I have to my life…you're gonna be the one to die today."

Jennifer rammed Jack against the wall and threw him down, and knocked him unconscious, then she turned to Johnny and with her sword cut the chains that held him in place.

"Come on, let's get out of here before the rest come," Jennifer said.

"They'll follow us…what we have to do is torch the place…then we'll leave," Johnny whispered to her, strongly considering the possibility that the other Watchers were eavesdropping. If that was the case they were going to have to act fast.

"What do we do?" she asked.

Johnny tried to think, how would they get out of here? Then he had an idea. "Do you know how to play instant dumbwaiter?"

Jennifer shook her head, "Uh-uh."

"I'll show you, come on," Johnny grabbed her by the wrist and they stormed out of there. He took her over to a part of the building that hadn't been used for a while judging by the dust and the cobwebs. In the middle of the room there was an old dumbwaiter that hadn't worked since the slab that carried things in it was removed. He'd caught notice of it on a floor below when he was being brought in. Opening the top, they jumped in and slid down to the bottom floor, then, Johnny had Jennifer follow him to a small dark space that was filled with gasoline cans.

"I've wanted for so long to turn this place into a blazing inferno, but I thought the floor down here was part of an unoccupied building I could use for storage, instead it turns out to be the basement, can you help me?" he asked.

"Sure," Jennifer picked up a gas can and jimmied with the lid.

"If we get the first floor going, that should be enough, then we can get out of here," he said.

"Where do we go from here?" Jennifer asked as she poured the gas on the floor in the next room.

"Home…my home, anyway," he said, "I have a couple of friends there who can help us…"

Jennifer said nothing, instead she emptied one gas can and started on another, moving quickly to another room. After five cans were poured on the floor, Johnny took out a large box of matches and took one out, he showed Jennifer the quickest way out of the building and advised her to go ahead. As soon as she took off, he struck the match, put it in the box with the rest and threw it in the middle of the floor and stormed out of there like a bat out of hell, quickly catching up with Jennifer outside.

It was a beautiful sight to them to see the entire first floor explode in flames, if there would be any survivors, they didn't know and they weren't sticking around to find out.

Johnny took her over to where he'd stashed his motorcycle on the way up and they got on and were ready to get out of there. Jennifer tapped Johnny on the shoulder and he turned around to see what she wanted.

"Where do you live?" she asked.

"2121 South Side Sun Crest Lane," Johnny replied.

* * *

At 2121 South Side of Sun Crest Lane, Johnny Moran's house was currently inhabited by two people awaiting his return. One was Antonio Guzik, an Immortal who was 25 when he became Immortal back during Vietnam in '67, 40 years later he still looked as he always had. He bore quite a resemblance to Duncan MacLeod with one main difference, in the middle of his dark near-black hair was a long, thick white streak. Where that came from, nobody could answer, but he believed he got it from the shock of when he returned from the dead.

He met Johnny Moran back in 1981, and not under friendly circumstances to say the least. However, within time they found they had use for one another, and since 1985, wherever one of them lived, the other moved in with them. In 1982, Antonio quickly became aware of what Johnny thought of his Watchers, and soon afterwards, he extended his services to one of Antonio's Watcher's as well. The records would show that Johnny Moran had killed all 114 Watchers of his, and 19 of Antonio's, the remaining two got away and simple disappeared. When he first found out, Antonio was outraged, he thought Johnny a heartless beast who would kill these people with no motive. 'They seem to know everything about us yet they don't want us to know they're alive, that's motive enough for me', he'd reply.

They had their difference of opinions for several years, and still both Immortals thought they were right on the subject. However, in 1995 when they found out about the Watchers trying Joe Dawson for treason, and killing Jacob Galati after killing his wife when she'd begged and pleaded for her life, and trying to kill Duncan MacLeod was certainly enough to expand Antonia's opinion and draw some light on the subject.

"They can't all be bad…look at Joe Dawson," he told Johnny.

"What about him?" Johnny wanted to know.

"He exposed the identity of the Watchers to help Duncan MacLeod…then after the Watchers kidnapped him, Duncan went to get him out, he got out and found Dawson after he should've been executed…he got Dawson help to keep him alive…why would he do that to a man who deserved to die?" Antonio asked.

"So you made your point…I suppose there are both sides to the Watchers…but that doesn't change anything, if they stick anymore with me, they're going to die…you better believe that, and the same goes for yours," Johnny told him, "so don't try and be a hero with them."

And while none of their Watchers survived, Antonio had convinced Johnny to let a few live that they'd come across. But then Duncan MacLeod and the legendary Methos disappeared, and the blame was placed on the Watchers, and the Watchers started up a battle with the Immortals again, and that is exactly what had been going on for the last nine years. Exactly how a myth like Methos could be exposed for a human, and a Watcher at that, nobody knew but Johnny had basically lost whatever trust he had with the Watchers, but an ex-Watcher was another story, and that is exactly who was visiting Antonio, a 9-year resigned Watcher, Joseph Dawson. Antonio and Johnny had known Joe for about five years, he had explained everything that had gone on around the time of their disappearance. Nobody could come up with an explanation as to what had happened to them, where they'd gone, if they left by choice, if they were together, or even if they were still alive.

Johnny could tell Joe liked Duncan MacLeod by the way he talked about him, he could tell it was more than just an assignment to Joe. One thing bothered Johnny still, it was the way Joe would continue to stare at both he and Antonio. They later found out that because Joe's eyesight was still good, he could clearly see a strong similarity in Johnny Moran, and Richie Ryan, and Duncan MacLeod with Antonio Guzik. He told them all about both Immortals and what had become of them. Perhaps because of it, Johnny felt sorry for the old guy because he knew what it was like losing a friend, but Joe lost two at the same time, and right before that, Amanda was killed, and a year before, Richie was murdered. Johnny was amazed that the former Watcher hadn't died of a heart attack yet. After hearing about everything that Joe had gone through in his life, Johnny and Antonio could agree on only one thing, he would've made one hell of an Immortal.

Today, Joe had come over shortly after Johnny left, Antonio told him he'd planned to set fire to the Watchers' new headquarters on the outskirts of town.

"Until about nine years ago, I never thought I'd say it, but anymore I'm ashamed I ever was a Watcher," Joe said.

"You couldn't have known that it would get this bad," Antonio told him, "you couldn't have known that Duncan and Methos would disappear."

"It's just become enough to drive an old man batty," Joe said, "there's too many questions and no answers…like…how did anyone find out that it was Methos that had gone missing, and not Adam Pierson? Nobody besides me and Mac knew by that point."

"Except Cassandra," Antonio replied, "whatever happened to her?"

"Nobody knows…her last Watcher was killed and by the time a new one was going to be assignment, she'd disappeared too…"

"Would she tell anyone?" Antonio asked.

Joe laughed a dark, humorless laugh, "Only if she'd truly gone crazy…but then again…I always figured she was delusional…maybe she was…"

Antonio tried to think, there had to be a way to figure out what had happened to cause Duncan MacLeod and Methos' disappearances. "What exactly happened around the time Amanda was killed?"

Joe exhaled a long sigh before answering that. "Amanda had come to town to see Mac, she'd been staying with him for a couple of days, then she went out one day and never came back…her Watcher found out that she'd been killed in a three to one fight, three Immortals came looking for Mac, and they knew she knew him and she wouldn't say where he was, so they killed her. When Mac found out, he…at first he was in such bad shock he couldn't do anything, he even kept forgetting to breathe…then after a few hours, he came around, and he went looking for them…he found them, and one by one, he fought and won. When he finally came back it was going on one o' clock in the morning, and about after half an hour, Methos told me he'd keep an eye on Mac, and I went home for the night. The next day, they were gone…I went to the barge to see if they were there, and they weren't…"

Antonio paid close attention to everything Joe said, trying to find something amiss, but nothing. He had to take another approach to it. "Was anything missing?"

"I didn't really look too well at first…but yeah…Methos' bags were gone, a few of Duncan's things, and their swords of course. Which leads me to believe that they left willingly, but if they went separate ways or together, I don't know, and I can't think of anyplace they'd go that I haven't checked already."

"Where all have you looked?" Antonio asked.

"Seacouver, Paris, Scotland, Greece…Bora-Bora…I've checked all over the globe – can't find them anywhere."

Joe was getting frustrated again, as anyone would, for nine years he'd been trying to locate them, somewhere, and to no avail. In the beginning, he'd given Watchers he knew and trusted information to identify Duncan and the Watcher Adam Pierson by…told everyone if they had any information, let him know…nothing.

Antonio decided that before changing the subject, he'd give it one more try. "What about Holy Ground?"

"What?" Joe asked.

"The sanctuary of Holy Ground is becoming more popular with Immortals who are tired of the Game, or who can't fight, or who don't have a teacher yet…and it's not all church temples and chapels and graveyards either…they're making them on Holy Ground, places like hotels…they get all kinds of people, but Immortals are the only ones who know about it as a place to get away from the Game temporarily…or permanently."

"Hotels, huh? That sounds like something Methos would go for," Joe laughed.

"It's worth a try..." Antonio said.

"Sure, but by now, how many of those places can there be in the world?" Joe asked, "five, ten thousand? I'll be dead by the time I get through checking them all."

"That's where Johnny and I can come in and help," Antonio told him.

Joe looked at him weird, like he didn't believe Antonio. "How?"

"Not much gets us out of the house these days," Antonio said, "ever since we became what you call 'wealthy independents', so I figure while we're in the house all day, we can be calling these places all over the world, seeing if they've had anyone who matches that description, if they're there now, to keep an eye out for them if they come in, and let us know the minute they know anything. I figure we can split the list of places three ways…that should save a lot of time."

Neither one said anything for a few minutes, as if Joe was considering it. Finally he said, "I think I'm damn lucky that Johnny wants so much to meet with Duncan."

"Why's that?" Antonio asked.

"Because if he wasn't, I have a good feeling I'd be in this alone," Joe said.

Antonio was about to say something in response when he felt the Immortal buzz, no, two of them. He got up and headed to the front door.

"Who is it?" Joe asked.

"Who _are they_ is a better question," Antonio answered back.

Antonio grabbed his sword out from it's hiding spot in the umbrella stand and pulled back the drape on the front door window, looking out he saw Johnny come back in one piece, and there was a woman behind him. He figured it was safe, so he put the sword away, and opened the door.

"How'd it go?" Antonio asked.

"Win some, lose some…and then you get stuck with some," Johnny gestured behind him at Jennifer.

She came in the door after Johnny, but she stopped right at Antonio, and before he could even acknowledge if she was anybody he knew, she said, "Tony Guzik…good to see you again!"

Johnny turned around when he heard that, "You know him? Tony…you never told me you knew her."

"Well…I…" Antonio wasn't even sure he had the right person, he was trying to think of who she was.

"Don't you remember, Antonio? July 4th 1974," Jennifer said.

Now Antonio remembered, "Oh my…you…you're…you…oh boy…"

"What? What? What's going on, what?" Johnny asked.

"Johnny…where'd you find her?" Antonio asked.

"The Watchers had her."

"What?" the question came from both Antonio and Joe. When Johnny heard that he went into the next room and looked in at the dining room table. "Hey Joe, when'd you get here?"

"Right after you left…what're the Watchers doing now?" he asked.

Johnny brought Jennifer in for Joe to see, and Antonio followed behind. "How about this, Watcher? Did you know about her?" Johnny asked.

"I've never seen her before in my life," Joe replied.

"Oh no? Not even in a horizontal glass icebox?" Johnny asked.

Joe looked over towards Antonio, "What is he talking about?"

"I don't know," Tony replied, "half the time I suspect _he_ doesn't know what he's talking about."

"I'll tell you what I'm talking about…this is Jennifer Callahan, have you ever heard that name before?"

Joe shook his head.

"No, huh? Well, it turns out that the Watchers not only pushed her to her first death, but stole her body after she was killed again and have kept her on ice since 1917." Johnny didn't give anybody time to say anything. "And when they haven't had her frozen solid, they've been brainwashing her subconscious mind so that when they released her, she'd have one thing in mind, to kill me…"

"Are you serious?" Joe couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes, I'm serious…fortunately it didn't work," Johnny said, "and…she's going to be staying here for a while, isn't that right, Jennifer?"

"Sure is…" she said, "I'm glad to see you guys again…it sure got boring in that coffin."

"Joe," Johnny said, "when I mentioned Duncan MacLeod, Jack Shapiro said that he's dead, have you found anything new on him?"

"Shapiro? I thought he'd learnt his lesson by now," Joe said.

"Well evidently he didn't…well?"

"Nothing…it doesn't make any sense," Joe told him, "it's as if Duncan MacLeod and Methos have just disappeared off the face of the Earth. I've been trying to find them for nine years, with no luck…I'm beginning to think they really are gone."

"That's too bad," Jennifer said, "that's just terrible…I just have one question."

"What's that?" Joe asked.

"Who're you?" she asked.

"This is Joe Dawson…he's a Watcher…like Jack…like the people who kept you in that coffin," Johnny told her.

Joe could see that she'd obviously been put through something going by the look on her face; she looked like just being near a Watcher made her sick. Antonio stepped in to defend him. "He's an EX Watcher, he resigned nine years ago…you can trust him…we've been trying to help him locate two Immortals who have been missing since shortly before he resigned."

"One of them was his case," Johnny told her, "Duncan MacLeod."

"Who's that?" Jennifer asked.

"That's a bit before your time…" Tony said, "it was already the 1920s before they planned to get to Chicago."

"They who?" Jennifer asked.

"Duncan MacLeod and his…" somehow Johnny just couldn't see "floozy" being the right word here, "confidante, Amanda Deveraux."

"Is she like us?" Jennifer asked.

"She was," Antonio replied.

Jennifer glanced at him with an odd look. They could tell this was all a bit overwhelming to someone who had been frozen for 90 years.

"I can tell this is going to be a long day," Joe said.

"Yeah well…while you three all get acquainted and break the ice," Johnny told them, "I'll go get started on lunch."

"90 years, was he telling the truth about that?" Antonio asked.

"He sure was…and I can't tell you how glad I am to finally get out of there again…and this time I'm staying out…boy I…I haven't been this excited since Alphonse got a job working at Coney Island," Jennifer told him.

"Who?" Joe asked.

"Alphonse Capone…have you heard of him?" Jennifer asked, "Johnny says he became real famous."

"Notorious is more like it," Joe replied, "he was trouble all the way…"

"Really?" Jennifer asked, "I guess he must've stepped up in the business…the last time I spoke to him, it was right after Frank Galluccio hacked him in the face with a knife because of what he said to Frank's sister."

Joe's eyes got about as wide as they could get when he heard that. "You mean you knew Al Capone?"

"Sure…for a while…he and me grew up in New York together…not closely though…he and his family lived on one side of town, I lived on the other side…then I moved to Chicago with my family…but he and I…we kept in touch for a while…then, you know what happened to me after that," she said.

Joe just shook his head and he couldn't believe what he was hearing…he also wished more than ever that Richie was alive so he could hear this, he recalled Duncan telling him how Richie seemed interested when Benny Carbassa told him he knew Al Capone. Benny Carbassa was a good for nothing who had no credibility and would say anything to save his hide, and Richie knew that, but still if he could even be mildly amused by that guy, if he were able to hear from Jennifer about her really knowing Al Capone, considering she was telling the truth, and Joe couldn't think of any reason she wouldn't be – that probably would've really gotten Richie's attention.

"Did you know anyone else in his family?" Antonio asked.

"Oh sure…he had a lot of brothers…some of them were in his early gangs…but…I don't know, it just seems that once I left New York they kind of dropped out of the picture…I never heard from or about them again, not even from Alphonse…but the last few times I spoke with him, he had bigger fish to fry. Johnny was telling me – that he – he really became famous for Valentine's Day, 1929…I wish I could've seen it."

"Well…I'm not sure there would've been much to see, he wasn't at the massacre, he was in Florida at the time," Joe told her.

"Really?" Jennifer found that hard to believe.

"Yeah…and he said was saying that only Bugs Moran killed guys like that, and Bugs was saying the same thing about him," Antonio added.

"Well…I wouldn't put it past Bugs…sure his brother was one of the victims, but to guys like Moran – from what Johnny told me, nothing mattered to them other than being on top, regardless of – who – who they had to rub out to get there…now Alphonse wasn't like that…believe me."

"How do you know? The last time you spoke to him he was a bartender," Tony replied.

While the three talked amongst themselves, Johnny briefly listened to their conversation from the kitchen and was glad he'd come in to make lunch, he'd already put up with listening to Jennifer talk about Al Capone 90 years ago, and he'd be hearing plenty more of it, but in between he wanted her to talk someone else's ear off about him. And with two of them in there, they were bound to get an equal turn, but despite that, he was glad to see Jennifer was still alive.

After the fire when they failed to find her body, he wasn't sure what had happened…he about tore apart all of Chicago trying to find her, but came up empty handed at every point. He moved on in his own life, but he was never able to completely forget her. Every time a new report would be out about Al Capone, he just remembered how well she seemed to know him. Then there were reports about Bugs Moran and Elliot Ness, and if she were still alive, she probably would've tracked down Alphonse and helped him take both of them out. He pushed that image from his mind for now and went back to pressing the pink gunk out of the middle of the burgers.

* * *

Johnny came back into the dining room with four plates, one in each hand, one on each shoulder, it was a rather unusual sight and how he managed to get to the table without dropping anything was a mystery. "So, what've you three been up to? Talking behind my back, I'm sure."

"Na, we've just been discussing how much Jennifer has to catch up on," Tony responded.

"I'll say…I can't believe how much stuff has changed...that reminds me, Johnny…on our way here earlier, I noticed something and I've been thinking about it for a while, and there's something I want to know," Jennifer said.

"Oh, what's that?" Johnny asked.

Johnny was a bit surprised when she flipped him off with both hands, "Is this supposed to be the new way they wave 'hello' around here?"

The three men at the table all but fell over on the floor laughing, but Tony came closest to it when he leaned so far back in his chair that it fell down and took it with him. The look on Jennifer's face might've also been described as humorous if it weren't for the fact that she couldn't be expected to know too much just yet as to how things worked in the current day and age. Everybody settled down at that and Tony got up and set his chair back up at the table.

"Well," Johnny tried to think of just what to say in response to her question. That wasn't an easy one to think of…how **could** you respond to something like that? "I certainly hope it hasn't become that," he said, "but believe me, that is **not** something you want to be doing in public."

"How come?" Jennifer asked.

"Because they shoot people for doing that."

Jennifer looked over at Tony, then back at Johnny, "Why?"

Johnny tried but all the self-control he had in him wasn't enough to keep him from breaking out laughing again. This time it was Tony who answered her question. By the time he got through explaining that to her, she just looked at him like she didn't believe him.

"Look, Jennifer…you have a lot to learn about how things are different now…and you will," Johnny told her, "it'll just take time…but, I think you'll catch up quickly."

"You think so?" she asked, "You know I was never good at learning anything."

"There's always a first time," he told her.

"…Mr. Dawson was telling me about Antonio's idea to search the sanctuaries for Duncan MacLeod and his friend."

"Yeah…we figure if we divide the names of the places between the three of us…eventually we'll have to find something," Johnny said.

"And imagine how much quicker it will be with the four of us," Jennifer added.

Suddenly, everything was quiet, and Johnny and Tony were looking at her like she had lobsters coming out of her ears. "What?" she asked.

"You'd really do that?" Johnny didn't believe it.

"Why not? If you want so badly to meet this guy, then he has to be allright…and…back in Chicago, we'd do anything for each other…so I think it's only fair…"

Tony pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to Jennifer. "So far, these are the only ones we've been able to locate."

There were about 20 names on the list each with an address and phone number.

"No problem, I can do that," Jennifer took the piece of paper from Tony and got up from the table and stopped again. "Uh…Johnny, where's the phone?"

"In the next room," Johnny showed her the way.

"Great…" she stopped again, "you got any coins for the phone?"

"You don't need them, just dial the numbers."

Jennifer started and stopped again, "huh?"

"It's got numbers on it now, you just press the numbers to match the ones on the paper," he told her.

Jennifer nodded and went into the living room and looked at the phone, and called again, "Johnny?"

"Now what?" he asked as he entered the room behind her

"What kind of phone is this?" she asked, "is it broken or is this a reject model?"

Johnny couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he reminded himself that he'd seen the world of technology improve and evolve, and she hadn't. He tried to think, in 1917, telephones were tall slim black things with a hook to hang them on, and his phone was a basic 1980s model, what kind exactly he didn't know.

"There's nothing wrong with it…this is the way they made them about 20 years ago…all you do is press the buttons that are in the middle to make a call."

"Oh…" Jennifer seemed to catch on and she looked up the first number on the list and dialed it, and she heard a horrible noise that screeched in her ear, followed by an automated recording saying the call couldn't be completed. "No kidding lady," she said into the receiver, "with the kind of noise you're making, you can't complete a call."

Johnny rolled his eyes and he took the receiver from her and hung it up. "What'd you do?"

"I just called the number on the paper," she said.

"Show me."

She pointed to the number she dialed, and Johnny found the problem.

"That's quite a ways out of the area…you have to press 1 before you put in the phone number for it to go through."

"How about the rest of them?"

Johnny looked over the numbers, "Yep, all of them."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Beats the hell out of me, just the way it is," he told her.

So Jennifer tried again, this time she got through. "Hello?" there was a pause, "I'm calling to ask about 2 people…I need to know if they're currently staying at your joint, or if they might come in that you might let us know. Uh…one of them is Duncan MacLeod, and the other's…"

"Adam Pierson, you nitwit," Johnny whispered to her.

"Adam Pierson, you nitwit," she repeated into the phone, "sorry about that…well they might be checking in under aliases…let's see, they're…hold on," Jennifer put her hand over the mouthpiece and yelled across the room. "HEY JOHNNY! WHAT DO THESE GUYS LOOK LIKE?"

The men about fell down laughing again, but Johnny managed to keep a straight face as he described them. Jennifer repeated the description and waited while he checked to see if any of the current guests matched the description, after about 10 minutes he reported that nobody there matched it.

"Well if they do come in, let us know…you can get us at…hold on," she covered the mouthpiece again, "Hey Johnny!"

"What now?"

"What's the number to this joint?"

Johnny told her and she repeated it to the guy running the place and then hung up, and she said, "Well that went well."

Joe and Antonio about fell out of their chairs laughing, while Johnny looked like he just wanted to strangle her. Indeed, he could tell this was going to be a long day, first there were the Watchers, and the continuous search for Duncan MacLeod, and now he was going to have to teach his old friend how to adapt to living in a world almost 100 years past her time.


	2. Chapter 2

"What's this?" Jennifer asked, pointing to something else.

"That's a vacuum cleaner," Moran explained, "you turn it on and it sucks up dirt."

"Really?"

"Sure, dirt, dust, shoelaces, phone cords, just about anything that'll fit through the hole on the brush," he told her.

"And that?" she pointed to something else.

"That's a clock."

"It doesn't look like one, there's no hands on it" she told him.

"That's because the technology's changed unbelievably over the last 90 years, that's a digital clock," Moran said.

"And that?" she pointed again.

"I can explain this one," Tony said, "this is a television set, now you remember how if you wanted to go see a film you went to the movie theater?"

"Yeah, and they had some good stuff back then, Fatty Arbuckle, and Charlie Chaplin was no slouch job either," Jennifer replied, "so what?"

"Well a few years later in the 1920s, they came up with television, but its success and use through that time was very gradual. Around the 1950s, use of them really picked up, and the idea of it was you could watch the news, and cartoons, and then came the half-hour programs…and through the years, it picked up more and more, saw more progress, more usage. Today you can see the weather, the news, old movies, new movies…"

"And the mental decay that is the commercials of today," Johnny threw in, "and going in that direction, there's also a new thing called reality TV, but I'll explain that one later."

"And television picked up on all the new tricks the movie people came by, sound, color, improved animation, special effects, you wouldn't believe the movies we get today," Antonio told Jennifer.

"Yeah, 100 trash, American-made," Johnny said.

"Fortunately the older stuff has been salvaged," Tony added, "sometimes they show the old pictures like you used to see."

"Now I like that," Jennifer said, "what else did they change?"

"Contrary to popular belief, it's been proven that people love the entertainment of mimes," Johnny said, "they originated sex and violence in their theatre work, and that's the only thing people want to see today."

"Cool."

"I think that's enough for one day, Jennifer," Johnny said, "we've already explained to you the washer and dryer, the vacuum cleaner, the digital technology of today, the blender, the egg beater, the electric razor, the chainsaw, capital punishment, and the evolution of electricity and machinery over the last 90 years. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go look into contacting some of those sanctuaries Joe mentioned."

He left the room and Jennifer and Antonio dropped on the couch.

"Same ol' Johnny," Jennifer said, "still the biggest sour grape I ever did know."

"I'm sure he's just in shock," Tony said, "this has been quite a day, for all of us."

"Who're you telling?" Jennifer asked, "Tony, can I ask _you_ something?"

"Sure."

"What's the big deal about this guy MacLeod? Why does everyone want to find him?"

"He's a great warrior, he's survived 415 years so far."

"But there are others older than he is, and nobody's interested in them, what's so great about him?"

"He's got quite a past to him, he's fought with some rather odd Immortals."

"Such as?"

"You remember them talking about his friend, the 5,000 year old one, Methos, right?" Tony asked.

"Yeah."

"He and three other Immortals near his age rode together during the Bronze Age, killing thousands of people, raping and pillaging, they had a leader, Kronos. He wanted to rule the world."

"Doesn't everybody?" Jennifer asked.

"Methos got away from them for a couple thousand years, then Kronos found him and came up with a new plan for world domination, he created a virus, no name or cure, planned to put it in the water, and offer everyone a choice, the Horsemen rule of they die," Tony explained.

"The Horsemen rule or the world dies…I can see how he'd be interested in the idea, has a nice sound to it if you're on his side of it," Jennifer said.

"Duncan MacLeod killed him, and another Horseman, his name was Caspian, and he was a real lunatic."

"Why's that?"

"He was a cannibal, you remember what those are?"

"Yeah."

"They found out he'd killed and eaten a lot of people, locked him up, but Kronos and Methos and their other brother Silas went and broke him out."

"I thought you said these guys were so old, nobody had any reports on them," Jennifer said.

"They didn't, but Duncan MacLeod and Methos both knew Joe, and they told him what happened so he'd know, and now that they're gone and it seems Methos' cover's been blown, there doesn't seem to be much need to cover up anything anymore," Tony explained.

"And only they knew he was Methos?"

"And Duncan's last student, Richie Ryan…Duncan killed him."

"Rough teacher."

"And Duncan's girlfriend Amanda did, but she died and she wouldn't tell…and Cassandra, a woman Methos knew from the Horseman's reign."

"And she's still alive?"

"Nobody knows by now. If she is…" Tony shuddered, "Joe says she might tell, if she went insane and there's a good chance she already was."

"So if they were the only ones that knew, how did the Watchers find out about Methos?" Jennifer asked.

"That's what nobody can figure out," he explained.

"Well who told Joe?"

He didn't say anything for a minute. "I never thought to ask him. I will next time he comes over."

"Wow…I really missed out on a lot," she said, "Al and the Massacre, World War II, Vietnam, the Depression, the Cuban Missile Crisis…"

"And you're complaining?" Tony asked.

"My own family, all dead and buried and turned to bone by now," she said, "that's what really hurts. They all died and I never even got to say goodbye, and it's all those damn Watchers' fault, what's so particular about me that they decided to freeze me and not somebody else?"

"They figured you were enemies with Moran, and he was already killing his Watchers at the time and they didn't like it, and decided to keep you somewhere where they could experiment on you, brainwash you, turn you against him, so you could do their dirty work."

"Ninety years of it and I still know my friends from my enemies," Jennifer thought, "Tony…"

"What?"

"Which one of you guys am I bunking with tonight?"

Antonio looked surprised, "What?"

"Am I going to be staying with your or Johnny tonight?"

"Neither," Moran announced as he returned to the room, "these days it's every man for himself and to himself. We don't have a room ready for you yet, so you'll be spending tonight on the couch."

"Johnny!" Antonio couldn't believe his ears. He turned to Jennifer and told her, "you can stay with me tonight."

"Fine, fine, it's your funeral," Moran told him, "just so long as I don't have to wake up to that face, I don't care." On that note, he turned and left the room.

"Yep, same ol' Johnny," Jennifer said, "he never changes."

"I'm sorry, Jennifer, I really thought he'd be glad to see you after all this time," Tony said.

"He is, Tony, he and I just never got along well to begin with. This is as happy as he's going to be to have me here," she explained.

Tony looked out the window and saw the sky getting dark and it was only early afternoon. He went to the closet and took out one of his spare jackets. "Put this on, it gets awful cold in November."

"I thought you said you had indoor heating," Jennifer said.

"We do, but we're going out," he told her.

"What for?" she asked.

"For one thing, we have to get you some new clothes, frozen or not, how those stayed intact for 92 years I'll never know," Tony said.

She looked down at her suit and remembered that the only people who dressed like this now were either in the Mafia, or in movies, the days of the gangster's racketeer were long gone and so was the image. Besides that, her suit was not in the grand condition it once was, it had been frozen along with her through time, but the fire she got caught in during the time of her death had ruined a good part of it and she knew she couldn't very well go around the town looking as she was.

"I suppose you're right."

* * *

"Okay, thank you," Johnny put the receiver down and groaned. Twenty places he'd called already, and none of them had anybody there who even remotely matched the descriptions of Duncan and/or Methos. And there were plenty more places to call after that, but he was going on a break, and just in time apparently because he heard someone rapping on the door. It was Joe.

"Hello, Joe," he said as he held the door open, "what can I do you for?"

"Just came to see how things are going, where's that walking time capsule?" Joe asked.

"Hell if I know," Moran replied, "Anthony took her out a while ago, to where I don't know, nor do I care, I've been on the phone all afternoon getting my ear talked off by people running those sanctuary places, and nobody's seen anybody who looks anything like these two guys."

"Maybe they didn't go to a sanctuary," Joe thought.

"Well where else would they go? Tony said you've been covering half the globe looking."

"Well…Mac stayed at a monastery for a year after Richie died, and Methos went off and nobody could find him then either."

"You think they did that again?" Johnny asked.

"No, I don't think so…I don't know, that's the real problem, there's no way to tell," Joe replied, "I'm beginning to think that they are dead."

"Joe, how old is Duncan?"

"By now, 415 years old."

"And Methos?"

"Well over 5,000."

"Don't you think by now they know what they're doing?" Moran asked.

Joe shook his head, "I've been around both of them too long to think they would. They're good at fighting, and experts when it comes to staying alive, but even they can only stay on top for so long."

"I'm sure wherever they are, MacLeod's playing mother hen to keep on Methos' last nerves, isn't that what they always did?"

"I wouldn't put it that way exactly, but I guess it went something like that."

"Makes sense to me, he's made it to being the oldest, he doesn't want to be the one having to watch over somebody else, he wants someone watching him…probably just loves driving Duncan out of his mind."

Moran said what he did to lighten the mood but it didn't last long. He could tell that Joe missed the two Immortals he called friends, more than he seemed to miss anything. Highly unusual behavior for a Watcher, but Johnny had to remind himself that this was an ex-Watcher, one who now regretted ever being with them, so it made more sense.

"We'll find them, Joe, I swear on my life we will," he said.

"Don't overdo it, Johnny, if they're gone, then that's it," Joe said, "Nothing we can do about it."

"Well we don't know that they're dead yet, and I refuse to even consider that until I see it for myself," Moran replied, "That's how I've lived as long as I have, by not taking anybody's word except my own."

"And where to from here? Now you've got someone else to look after, someone who needs to be caught up on almost a century of progress, and failure."

"The same way she ever learned anything, bits at a time, Joe, that's all it takes, that's all she _can_ take is bits at a time, that's how she'll learn it all."

"You two don't seem to get along so well though," Joe said.

"And who told you that?" Moran asked.

"Nobody had to, call it the Watcher instinct in me."

"For an ex-Watcher you seem pretty well in your business still."

"Old habits die hard," Joe said.

"But thankfully Watchers die easier," Moran responded.

"And you'd probably know that more than most," Joe said, a tinge of bitterness in his tone.

"I'm sorry, Joe, but let's face it, for the last few years, they've just become the murderous bastards they accuse us of being."

"They've been that for years, they're just coming out with it at full force now," Joe told him.

"Like that brother of yours?" Johnny asked.

"Brother_-in-law_," Joe corrected him.

"Right, James Horton, what's say you tell me about that particular bastard?"

"Another time," Joe promised.

* * *

Moran had been in such a rush to get home, he drove so fast Jennifer didn't get much of a chance to see anything, but now that she was in the car with Tony, she was able to get a better look at everything, unfortunately that slowed the drive down to about fifteen miles an hour.

"What's that?" she pointed to something else.

"That's a traffic light."

"What's it for?"

"To keep cars from crashing when they come on different roads and meet on the same one; see the green light means go, yellow means either speed up or slow down, and red means stop, and if you go when it's red, the cops pull you over and give you a ticket."

"What for?"

"It's the law."

"So clearly not everything's better in this day and age," Jennifer replied, "What's that?"

Tony looked. "That's a school bus."

"What's it for?"

"Driver picks up kids and takes them to the school, then takes them home afterwards."

"Lazy is what that is," Jennifer said, "speaking of which, how are schools these days?"

"Lazy, so it pretty much all goes together," Tony explained, "seems everybody's falling asleep on the job."

"Oh," she looked out the window again and pointed to something else, "What's that?"

He looked again. "That's a K-9 cruiser."

"What's that?"

"Police, have a dog they teach to sniff out drugs, makes it a lot easier to catch people, at least that's what they say. So they take the dog out with them in the car to areas where they suspect drug use, and they put the dog to work."

"What's that?" Jennifer asked, sounding a bit tense.

"What's what?" Tony asked.

"That noise!"

He'd heard it all his life so he was used to it, it was a newer model motorcycle that came speeding by and disappeared around a corner.

"That's how they make motorcycles to work today," he explained.

"Whoa…if they make that much racket, I'm sticking with an older one. Even Johnny's isn't that loud."

"Well I know for a fact there's a place where we could find some of the really old models…it'd cost a small fortune to get one, but if that's what you want."

"I'd like to find one like I had before," she said.

That surprised Tony, he looked over at her for a second. "You had a motorcycle before?"

"Harley Davidson, 1913…cost plenty of money back then too but it was worth it…" she laughed, "My aunt had one too, 1911 model…she raced in 1912 don't you know? A lot of women did actually…she won plenty of times…another time some guy tried to knock her off hers and they both went down…that's how she met her husband. I was hoping that in a couple of years I'd be able to buy one of the newer models, like a 1914…"

"Why?" Tony asked.

"That's the year they started putting sidecars on them, you could fit the whole family onto one motorcycle then…and I always wanted a family and I figured that'd be how we travel…of course now being Immortal, I don't have to worry about that, I won't have a family."

"At least you're not alone now, you've got us," Tony said.

"Yeck…well I suppose you'll have to do, you're the only guys that would bother taking me in. Tony…"

"What?"

"Tell me more about the people this guy MacLeod has killed."

* * *

"Well if anyone matching the description I gave you comes in, let me know, you have my number, allright, thank you, goodbye."

Another scratched off the list, this was getting very tired very quickly. Johnny fixed himself a drink and headed out onto the front porch for some air. The weather was strangely nice for November…in the sun he estimated it at being near 70 degrees. This part of town was small and quiet, to really get anywhere good you'd have to go out a few miles to see anything aside from the hick neighbors. As Johnny was taking that into consideration, a black hearse passed by, not as fast as they normally went. Sometimes Johnny wondered if the only people in them were really the drivers and the corpses. He wondered if people ever hid out in the back of them sometimes because they knew nobody would disturb a corpse, let alone steal a car carrying one, nobody in their right mind anyway, but then again who was in a right mind these days?

Maybe he'd just been alive too long and it was making him too paranoid for his own good, but Johnny believed in taking no chances with anything that wasn't necessary. Actually now that he thought about it, if the Watchers were so bent on finding him, he wouldn't have to go to them, they could very easily track him down, do what they would, and that would be the end of that. The fact that they didn't meant something, what exactly he didn't know, but it was something to think about.

Speaking of which, he still wasn't sure what they were going to do about Jennifer…90 years was a long time to catch up on…and while she could learn, the real question would be could she adapt? No Immortal to his knowledge or Joe's had ever been frozen before…the only case that could be considered similar would be Nefertiti, but she was entombed in a coffin for 2000 years, it made sense that she couldn't adapt. The things that happened to her two millenniums back were as fresh as just the day before, whereas Jennifer had been thawed out repeatedly and she knew it. Against all hope Johnny genuinely hoped he wouldn't have to take her head…he knew it was too early to be thinking that way but he couldn't help it. He would wait, a month, two months, maybe a year and see how well she did in adapting to the times, see _if_ she could, and if she could, they wouldn't have anything to worry about.

He looked as his watch, odds were pretty soon she and Tony would be coming back, so he went in to start on dinner. Getting a 15 inch chicken into a 13 inch crock-pot without damaging anything was going to take a while.

* * *

In the last half hour Tony had passed just about every item of women's clothes to Jennifer in the dressing room and of it all, thirty shirts and blouses were too big, too small, too loose, too tight, hot, cold, itchy, and had too many pieces of string to tie up. Twenty pairs of pants were too loose, too tight, too small, and some the material inside the top hurt like nothing before. Twelve bras were sling-shot out, six pairs of underwear were too skimpy, too large, or cut into her, and finally two dresses came flying out of the dressing room with the threat of 'try that again and I'll slit your throat when you're asleep'.

"Do you mean to tell me that nothing here fits you?" he asked.

"Bingo…it just figures Tony, some things never change, they couldn't fit me right in the 1910's and they can't fit me today."

"What?"

"I've gone through the last 92 years in a man's suit, you should know better than to think women wore pants back then."

"Well why didn't you say so?" Tony asked, "get out of there and we'll go over to the men's section."

Jennifer put her old clothes on and they got out of there, unfortunately it took a while to get past all the racks of women's clothes, and some of them raised an eyebrow for Jennifer.

"Wait a minute, Tony, there's something I want to see."

She turned back around and went to a rack where denim skirts were kept, skirts that couldn't even have met the 7 inch mark in overall length.

"Wow, women must be pretty big nowadays to wear garters like this."

"That's not a garter, Jennifer."

"Oh?"

"That's a skirt."

Jennifer looked at it for a while and dropped it to the floor like it was absolutely repulsive.

"You mean to tell me that women dress like that, willingly?"

"Yes."

"And…they go out in public in that?"

"That's usually the sole reason they buy it," Tony explained.

"Do they have a death wish?" she asked, "…remember Jack the Ripper? He killed several street walkers and back then they didn't wear anything like this!" she held the skirt up again, "My grandmother showed me some old clothes from back then, their knickers were longer than this skirt and you're telling me women wear this over their underwear?"

"Those of them that bother with underwear," he said.

She put the skirt back on the rack and sprinted out of there. "I don't like this, Tony."

"Well fortunately some things that have changed over the years it's better that people don't adapt to, and don't like, and that is one of them."

"You tell me something, Tony, just how in the world did it come down to that? Now in my day, women wanted to be treated like equals, they wanted to be treated with respect, but if you ask me that's a pretty hard one to do if you're always getting knocked on your back."

"I'd like to know that one myself."

It took another hour but they finally found a few things that Jennifer could wear and they got out of there.

* * *

In the car on the way back, Tony tried to think of something to say, Jennifer was quiet the entire time and the silence was disturbing to him.

"Johnny's probably wondering what's happened to us," Tony said.

"I don't think so, he used to stand around while my aunt tried to get me fitted for a new suit, that took forever."

"How come?"

"She kept poking me with the pins, and she kept telling me to hold still, stand up straight, keep my arms down, raise my arms, don't slouch…you ought to try that sometime and see how long you last."

Tony laughed, "I have an idea we're going to get along just fine."

"Yeah, providing Johnny doesn't kill me," she replied.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Remember you told me about Duncan MacLeod, and the Nefertiti lady? He killed her."

"He had to kill her, she'd been entombed for 2 millenniums, that's longer than all of us put together. Too much change occurred during that time that anyone could adapt to the changes made with time. You, you haven't been frozen for a whole century yet, so there's hope with you."

"Is that all there is to me, hope?" she asked.

"No, I believe you'll be just fine, but the first day is too soon to be making any predictions…give us a month and let's see how far you come."

She nodded, "Fine, a month."

* * *

Johnny had been multitasking making dinner, calling Joe, setting the table, and switching the phone over to the next line to call more sanctuaries. All said the same thing, nobody who fit that description but they would keep their eyes peeled.

_Duncan MacLeod, if you're alive I'm going to kill you after everything we've been put through to find you,_ he thought to himself. It was an empty threat of course but he was tempted to put his hands around Duncan's neck if he ever found him.

He heard Tony and Jennifer come in through the front door and they came into the kitchen showing him the clothes they'd gotten for Jennifer.

"Do they fit?" he asked.

"Yeah, you want to see?" Jennifer asked.

"Sure."

What he didn't realize was when he said that, Jennifer took that as meaning right there. She slid out of her jacket and tore her shirt off before they could protest, yelling 'NO!'

Although it didn't do any good, she just shrugged her shoulders and continued removing her clothes.

"Really, I don't know what your problem is, we're all adults here, what I've got you've all seen before, just on different women."

"You never lived with any men in the house, did you?" Johnny asked.

"Na…my sisters' husbands dropped in from time to time but they didn't stay too long," Jennifer replied.

"Well from now on when you get undressed you do it in the bathroom," Johnny said, "you can't be out here in the open when we have company over."

"I'll say," Tony agreed, "if Joe saw that he'd probably have a heart attack and fall down dead."

Jennifer put on a pair of black and grey pinstripe boxers, a gray sport bra Tony had spent half an hour getting her fitted for, a white T-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and white sneakers. "How bad does it look?" she asked.

"Not bad at all," Johnny replied, "now you look like you come from this century."

"Tony, what'd you say this is again?" she asked, pulling at the material of her shirt.

"It's called a T-shirt."

"Why's it called that?"

"Because when you have your arms straight out, with the short sleeves it looks like a T," Tony explained.

She tried it. "A horribly shaped T...Johnny."

"Yeah?"

"When do we eat?"

"Dinner will be ready soon."

"What're we having?" Tony asked.

"Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, baby peas, and King's Hawaiian rolls."

"Hawaiian, what's that?" Jennifer asked.

"Don't worry," Johnny replied, "we'll run all that stuff by you soon enough."

"Though that reminds me," Anthony said, "we'll have to go to the market soon, Thanksgiving's next week."

"What're we having?" Jennifer asked.

"Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread rolls, apple, cherry, and pumpkin pie."

"How many hands is it going to take to make all that?" she asked.

"A few."

"Good, then I can help."

"If you are," he replied, "you're going to have to figure out how the oven, the mixer, and the stove work."

"I can do that," she replied, "Which do I do first?"

"I don't want anything blowing up in this house," Johnny said, "you can make the pumpkin pie and you'll use the mixer for that."

"Allright, you can show me how to use that fancy thing tomorrow, right now, let's eat."

* * *

After dinner, while Johnny and Anthony did the dishes, Jennifer wandered around the living room looking at everything again. Some lamps were short and fat and had rippled shades on them, others were tall, thin poles with a wide dish on top the light bulb was kept in. Over on the table was a new version of the radio…three big black and gray squares, the one in the middle had a bunch of buttons and knobs to it, pressing one button caused a piece to open in the middle, another had the top flip open. After getting them closed again she decided to move onto something else.

Back to the television set, it also had a fine line of buttons on it going down the side. This was an older set, from about 20 years back Johnny had told her, all the same it was new to her. She tried to figure out how to work it, the buttons' names of what they did had worn off long ago, but Johnny had told her the order. The bottom three you didn't mess with, above that, two for changing the channels, the two above them, turning the sound up and down, so the top one had to turn it on. She didn't know what she would find on the screen, but when the picture and sound finally came on, she saw a woman in what looked to be a very large horse trough, running a very small razor (she guessed it was a razor) over her legs. At first Jennifer noted that the men were right about color and sound being put in, but that left her mind as soon as she noticed that as the lady moved the razor up her legs, she seemed to cut them, and didn't even notice. Jennifer cringed and her stomach threatened to send back up everything she'd just eaten, but somehow she couldn't turn away from it. The woman's legs got bloodier until she finally realized it and stood up screaming, only to reveal her back and more of her body looked the same. Jennifer screamed and fell back and she hit the floor, and she heard the men come running into the room to see what had happened.

Johnny lunged at the TV and shut it off, and Anthony helped Jennifer to her feet, and when she finally found her voice again, she said, very slowly, and very quietly, "the mimes never did anything like that."

"Remember what I told you about new movies made today?" Johnny asked.

She nodded.

"Well what you just saw is a prime example of how far downhill it's gone," he told her, "That movie's Cabin Fever, it came out a few years back…became a big hit where some people were concerned."

Jennifer looked back at the now blank screen and back at Moran, and couldn't believe it. "You can't be serious, people actually watch that?"

"Watch, hell, they pay to see it."

She shook her head in disbelief. "No, that can't be…you're making that up."

"I wish I were, but the truth of the matter is that _that_ is a basic idea of what they give you in a horror movie today."

"I feel sick," she said as she sat on the couch, "but that stuff, what I just saw, that wasn't real, right? That was one of those illusions like you said."

"For the movie, yes, but they took the concept from real life cases."

"Real life…you mean people now actually do stuff like that? Is this another of those things that I'm supposed to adapt to?"

"Not particularly," Moran responded, "actually it's people who find nothing wrong in actions like that, that you have to look out for, there's something wrong with them."

"Indeed…but how…how did they…how could…" Jennifer couldn't get it out, but they both knew what she was thinking.

"I'll explain that all to you as well…you'll see quite a bit has changed, and a good part of it's not for the better," Johnny explained.

"And things just keep getting worse," Jennifer thought, "but we go on because we have no choice. What do you mean by that was a true case?"

"What you just saw was a lady with a disease, and it was based on a man who got a very bloody condition very similar to it," Anthony explained.

Jennifer was cringing again, and she was finding it hard to breathe, she worried if she breathed too heavily, she'd throw up.

"There are some diseases like that, flesh-eating and the sort…one sort, most common among patients with new stitches…and then there are others where…"

"That's enough, Guzik!" Moran screamed, "For cripe's sake, she doesn't need that information right now."

"Sorry…"

"I'm going to be sick," Jennifer said.

But much to her surprise and relief as well as the men's, nothing happened to that extent, however she was still quite a wreck from it. She spent a good couple of hours after that shaking and sweating and screaming and crying, remembering what she had seen. It was so bad, Moran actually considered taking her head that night just to put her out of her misery. He didn't tell Guzik, and apparently he didn't need to because a while after that, she seemed to calm down, but it was obvious to all of them that nobody would be sleeping for a while. While Jennifer had Tony explain to her how they could pull off such a horrible sight and it was all fake, Johnny put the kettle on the stove to make some coffee, this was the start of a long night he could already tell, and if the night passed with no sleep, tomorrow would be a long day as well.

_Just like the old times_, he grimly thought to himself. Though he had to admit, it was nice to have an old friend back. The life of an Immortal one was lonely, no matter how many places you went, how many people you met, very few actually stayed in your life for long. He wouldn't openly admit it too much but he was glad to see Jennifer again, and he was glad that she was basically the same person she was before her death, before the Watchers, and before their sadistic experiments with her. If she could survive all that, maybe there was hope for her in this new world.

He sincerely hoped so, he'd buried a lot of friends over the years, and despite everything he told everyone, a part of him still dreaded that soon he'd also have to bury Duncan MacLeod as well. There was no proof that he was either alive or dead, and the same could be said for Methos, as long as nothing could be confirmed there was plenty of room for both dread and hope. He prayed that when the day came that they finally found them, that they would be allright. Duncan MacLeod was expected to be the last Immortal standing, he would have to be allright when that time came. _If_ that time came.


End file.
